Medvedev sees no grounds for Cold War with United States

He believes the possibility of cool-down in relations with the United States may depend “on the administration"

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There is no Cold War in Russia-US relations, and there are either no grounds for unleashing it, but “relations between the countries can deteriorate periodically,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Brazilian Globo television, published by the Vedomosti daily. He believes the possibility of cool-down in relations with the United States may depend “on the administration, on managerial teams that are in power, this depends on the position of lawmakers”. As an example he mentioned the abolishment of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, “an anti-Soviet document,” and the passing of “an obviously anti-Russian” document – the Magnitsky Act. The prime minister believes this is “a far-fetched” matter, coming “out of thin air”.

“But unfortunately some impostors, who are dealing with this issue, misused a quite difficult life situation with one person to resolve their political and commercial tasks,” the premier said with regret. Russia had to retaliate to that decision, he said. However, there are no deep, significant reasons for a new Cold War, he believes.

Medvedev also invited Brazilian investors to Russia. In reply to the question what can they think if they know from media outlets about the judicial decision against the Pussy Riot punk group, about discussion of a bill banning gay propaganda, the prime minster offered Brazilian people not to judge Russia only by media reports. “There is a big distance between us, but you come and see for yourselves what is going on, what are the tendencies in our country, whether people can say all they want, whether there are some problems with the freedom of speech or some other freedoms. Come and see with your own eyes,” he stressed.